I remember June 2007. Out of the freaking blue, my uncle got me a Nintendo DS Lite. It wasn't my birthday, it wasn't Christmas. It was... June. Out of the kindness of his heart, he just bought me a DS, and a copy of Super Mario 64 DS. Gaming in my country is an extremely expensive hobby, partly due to our currency being shit when converted to US dollars, and partly due to game and console sellers here being very limited, and taking advantage of the low demand by severely overpricing games and hardware. So even though I wanted a DS really, really badly, I knew I would never be able to buy one, let alone games for it. Yet there was my uncle, who I know could afford one, but of course never asked him to, since I knew nobody but myself should waste money on something meant only for myself. There he was, gifting me one, alongside a copy of Super Mario 64 DS... and an R4 flashcart.

I know what you're thinking. I dislike piracy as much as the next guy, I really do. I think we all know when a game's developer is completely deserving of our cash. And there's nothing I'd love more than giving it to them, to contribute to them, to invest in them, so they can continue developing great games with that money (I actually plan to buy copies of these games or games that are worth as much as them as soon as I have money of my own and I can afford them.) But I lacked (and still lack) the money to afford a single game, due to the reasons I mentioned... and I kinda wanted my uncle to feel proud, or at least, I didn't want him to feel he had completely wasted his money on me. I actually didn't know what to do with the R4 for three or four weeks, during which I played nothing but SM64DS, day after day. Until I finally decided on piracy. So I started browsing ROM sites.

The first game that caught my eye, for reasons I may never know, was the plain-looking visual novel "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney". A.K.A. the game that changed my life.

As I said, I may never know what attracted me to it. I mean, there were no reasons why, why would such a game attract me? I had grown up on casual PlayStation titles like the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon games. I had never experienced groundbreakers such as Ocarina of Time or Metal Gear Solid that may have gotten me into gaming (and to this date I still haven't managed to beat any of these two.) So if somebody had asked me "What's the first game you're going to play on your spanking-new DS, having the entire library at your disposal?", I probably wouldn't have answered a Japanese legal drama. Yet I did end up downloading it, and it truly was the game that changed my life.

The game itself was amazing. From the very First Turnabout to Turnabout Goodbyes. Then I beat the game. My best friend at the time had interests similar to mine, so I told him about this wonderfully weird game I had found, and now was eager to tell him I had finished it and how great it was... but HOLD IT! A new case has been unlocked! Never before had a game surprised me that way (remember, my gaming past was practically non-existent and composed entirely of great, yet casual games.) For that I still thank Takumi. Then I beat the excellent Rise from the Ashes, and told my friend about it. Apparently he had done his homework, and through some cool-looking fansite, found out that there was a sequel to that game expecting me... and a third game in the series was coming out the following November! That was like two months and a half away, so I was stoked. Immediately after that I got to playing "Justice for All". With school and everything, I got around to finishing it by November... the month when, according to that fansite my friend had shown me, the third game was to be released. When the time came, I downloaded "Trials and Tribulations", completely obnoxious of the drama the game's developer had put fans through before deciding to release the game in western territories. I blissfully downloaded it, and played through it.

By the time I was done with the (to me) tear-inducing Bridge to the Turnabout, which would be beginning January 2008, my view on gaming had been completely revolutionized. I no longer thought games had to be only for a couple hours of fun every now and then. I now knew gaming could mean entire new worlds with new, full-fledged characters, awaiting me to explore it through whatever gameplay method, as simple as they may be. After wiping my tears dry, my first reaction was denial: "This can't end here! There has to be more of this! They need to make another one!" pretty much summarizes my thoughts back then. I needed more Ace Attorney... and conveniently for me, the fansite my friend had shown me listed a fourth game in the saga, that had been released in April of the previous year, and was to be released stateside the following February, which meant in just a month I would be... wait, what's this? This site has a... forum? How the hell did I not notice this before!? I honestly hadn't. Anyway, I knew the basics of what a forum was: everyone had their own accounts, and they would post comments on their own topics or other people's. But I had never been in one. Yet I was willing to give it a try. So I hit that Forums button.

That day was the 21st of January of 2008. If you haven't done the math yet, let me save you the bother: that was 4 years and two days ago. I immediately created an account by the name of "ivanramos13". My first post was in... the Berry Big Circus. Heh. It was a thread in which each poster would mention an AA character, the following poster would describe that character in one word, and propose a different character for the poster before them. I believe my first post was a reply to a member called... I forget, but the words "Gamer Erman" come to mind. I don't remember what character I was describing either, but I do remember proposing Lamiroir for the next poster, who was this Gamer Erman man too. He replied that he didn't know what character that was (neither did I, mind you), so he couldn't describe her. I remember replying... immaturely. I soon got a PM from a member then known as Bleachlover, who let me know that new users could introduce themselves in the Press Conference subforum. I did so, noticing my earlier posts had been inappropriate... but blaming my little brother for them. Of course he had never heard of the site, but I got away with it :3

I can't stress enough how much my life has changed since then. I discovered the true nature of the Internet throughout the years, and learned how to get by in here. Some call it "netiquette". This forum and its community have taught me that. I now cannot conceive life without the Internet (whether or not that is good or how sad that is are not open to debate), the Internet you guys taught me how to use, and I plan to make a living out of this knowledge (and its expansion) in the not-so-distant future. Thank you, Court-Records, for opening up the path that is defining my life.

...But that's not important right now. At least, that's not what I want to thank you guys for in this thread. What I want to thank you for is this four years I've been here. This four years of pure awesomeness that are now memories... During this four years I have laughed at Fapman's hilarious sprite comics... I've loved every second of RevFirst and Darzie P's "Channel Six", Tajiri Ami's "Reminiscence ~ Countdown", Greeny's "Francis Equitas: Ace Casanova (And Attorney)", Witcheys's "Justin Case: Ace Attorney", and Lida_Rose's "Last Comic Standing: PW Style" smiley comic (remember smiley comics?), thanks to which I got my first Internet friend (thank you for everything, Lida, and I swear we'll make LCS come back some day!)...

I've admired the skills of Ceres and Zinle at sprite-making and Vickinator and Purple Angel at graphic editing... I've wowed at EnterTheJawsTheme's "Gyakuten Saiban Appellate Project"... I've learned how being trolled feels like with Holy Hell... I've regretfully let Hakuro DeKiller's "FB-11: Turnabout Assassin" to die when I ran out of things to do without sounding like an idiot... I've looked up at Croik, Wooster, General Luigi, DL-69, Tinker, Ceres, Gerkuman, Anders, Mikker, Lunaria, Nose, Mayhem, Blademaster_Orca... and then, thanks solely to one guy, Electroboy, I've joined their ranks, and become the 4th most post-prolific staff member of the Forums (I cannot thank you enough, Electro, I really can't.)... I've also learned that a troll's best weapon can be image macros, thanks to the many accounts of proxy-master Proxy... and I then learned the art of trolling with DoMaya...

I've discovered roleplaying, taking part in RPs such as the (to me) legendary "Legions of Darkness RP", the highly promising "Court-Records: The RP", and "The C-R Adventure", alongside book_wyrm, Lida_Rose, Figaro, BlackJack, Dimbo, PandaPrinzessin, Dawn, BladeSatoshiX, Wanacoba, Greeny, Percei, ShadowEdgeworth, denerop, LordWolfODonnell, Meenyman, Ptapcc, Inquisitor Amakiir, Val Valkyrie, Nadindi, yuzikichan, Robin Goodfellow, and probably others I am forgetting (sorry if I am D: )... I've witnessed the end of MechaBowser's pioneering Case Maker, the rise and fall of both the DS casemaker and PWLib, the former of which I spent an entire year of my life helping develop (anyone remember the never-ending development of 1.2?), I've watched the war between both unfold... I've witnessed the release of some fancases, including the epic Turnabout Substitution, and the way-too-prolonged development of end-all-be-all fangame Remnants of the Past... and I've even tried to make my own fangame! I even have lots of very cool ideas I wanted to use for it (if I may say so myself), which I now intend to develop into an animated feature of sorts (more on this if I ever get it off the ground, promise)...

The entire Lawyerman Project has passed me by all these years... I've witnessed some of the most important "events" in the "history" of C-R, like the banning of BlackJack and Lind_L_Tailor, and the subsequent creation of The Otaku... I've learned to hate The Otaku, then I've learned not to, and to accept them... and then I've seen some of this community's most valued members moving there... I've felt bad for wannabe4chanmod (a.k.a. Fetus, anyone remember her?)... I saw the new (now old) C-R Family Tree emerge from the ground thanks to CarChaseCityMan, I've become that Tree's moderator, I've had a C-R family (let's see here... son of Lida_Rose and Aliucon, husband of Furtzurbus (<3), father of Jaydrick0620, .Marisa., Allie_Fey and godot_blend_#107! Did I get that right? Haha)... I've to build the Tree the incredibly ambitious RP City... HELL, I've even tried my hand at fanart!

There's just too much stuff that's coming to my mind right now... so many fanart, so many fanfiction, sprites, sprite comics, smiley comics, flame wars, discussions, arguments, flame wars (haha), speculation, hype, disappointment... I want to mention it all, but I simply can't, I'd really love to list everything but not only do I forget, but also if I tried to list it all here, I'd lose more readers than I've already lost by making this post so freaking long.

And here we are, C-R. We've got six game sin the series, the latter of which is causing some stir due to Capcom not wanting to localize it (fortunately there's the fan translation going on), but goddammit, we've got a series of six consistently-high-quality games! With an EPIC cross-over on the way that promises to blow the previous six titles out of the water! Made by the creator of the first four games everyone loves! Who, when not working on Ace Attorney, was doing Ghost Trick, one of the most original, if not one of the best new IPs of this generation! We've gotten a spiky-haired lawyer into Marvel vs. Capcom 3! We have an online-chat Ace Attorney simulator in beta! The C-R Family Tree has grown anew! We've got a movie adaptation of the first game coming out next month in Japan! And we've got the best newshound from Japan we could ever have hoped for! (Thank you, JapaneseGIRL!)

And need I remind you that you lot helped make it possible for us to gather $3000 for an admin that was going through the worst time of his life?

Yes, one could say we are a bit inactive right now. Actually, that might be a big understatement. But we are not dead. We never are, we never were and we never will be. We've got a franchise in its 10th Anniversary (that means it's 10 years old!), with a potential megaton coming this Friday from Japan, and even though the western situation is dire, we must hope it won't last. We have our dry streaks, but we will come back. We always do. The old members may never return, but new ones will take their place. But they'll never replace them. But they'll keep this place fresh. This has always been like this, and I believe the future will be no exception.

So thank you, Court-Records, for the four years of my life that taught me about gaming, people, the Internet and the world as a whole. I owe all that, in a way or another, to you. But most importantly... thanks for the memories. I had a blast. I hope the years to come are just as awesome, and even better.

Oh we're so obviously not going to die this year. At least, hopefully. (At least 1 forum member was tragically taken from us last year afterall :( )

Anyway, I guess I officially endorse this topic as the 'CR Thanksgiving topic'. So I'll just go pin it and then I'll update this post with my own thankyous, thoughts etc.

Edit: Well, I had no idea that when I found this site a couple of years back that I'd end up where I am now. Croik and Wooster needed a mod for the RP section, and I jumped at the chance. Many of the rule changes caused a bit of... controversy, but I think most people are used to them now (If they follow the 50 word rule). Anyway, 2011 was a tough year for many people and I'd like to thank everyone who made our stay in the backup forums smooth and fun, as well as everyone contributing to helping Wooster out. As much as I may be a cynical grumpy-pants at times, the half of me that that's idealistic and nice was impressed by how awesome everyone is.

This was also the year that I became an admin, to alter the backup forums to suit our purposes. (And to let the AAI2 project people have somewhere secrets to work). I never thought I'd ever get this far, and I'd obviously like to thank the Admins for giving me a chance, and the rest of the mods for being awesome to work with. I'm sorry that I've been a little absent lately; being out of work may seem like a reason to be more on here, but it's hard to patrol a forum when you're depressed. I'll try and pull myself together though.

Let's hope that when the evil dragons of SOPA and Protect-IP are dead, the site can continue for as long as possible. I'm really looking forward to LaytonVSAA.

Edit:My experience of Phoenix Wright wasn't quite as eye opening as DeMata's as I'd played games with deep characters and worlds before like FFX and MGS however it was still a unique experience as I'd never played anything quite like it before.

For me I first got Phoenix Wright after Christmas, the family was out in Glasgow, Braehead shopping centre looking for ways for us to spend Christmas money. I in particular was looking for MGS3 Subsistence. So was wandering around GAME with my brother and dad when I saw this surprisingly plain game cover in the DS section. Just a dude in a suit standing by the logo. Now at the time I had a dream where I wanted to become a lawyer when I grew up, my uncle was one and I saw how comfortably he lived and it would allow me to argue and debate for a living (something I found fun) so I picked up Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney at the time.

The game was simply amazing, fortunately for me a couple of the games were already out at the time so I bought them as I could find them and gunned through them. The games provided an adrenaline rush like no other when you cornered a suspect or were under pressure. They had great comedy and references and running jokes and yet on the flipside they had serious undertones of loss and pressure and some serious morality issues in Case 2-4 currently my favourite of the cases. I loved the game mostly for the amazing contrived murder scenarios however, the final rundown of the murder at the finale of the case was the clincher for me as it was usually just so shocking and surprising it kept me fascinated with the series. Ini Miney's plot twist in particular just had me dumbstruck about it.

I think I first found out about CR via Phoenix Wrong videos on youtube, particularly when they would reference CR as the source of their materials occasionally I eventually went to CR and initially used it as a site for information and materials and I think I was looking for music too when I arrived. Things to remind me of the awesome game. I wasn't brand new to forums as I had some experience on Neopets and Gaiaonline but my experience with CR's forums has been something special.

CR was a first proper forum for me and it helped me learn and grow as a member of online (and indeed real) communities. Among my first posts was a rookie mistake of making a fantopic for the fantastic Damon Gant while little did I know a pre-established much bigger topic for him was just a couple of pages away. For me CR was a good place to argue and debate about fun things rather than big serious things though I did get banned once which I suppose helped me learn to respect Nettiquette a bit better.

Though what makes CR so special to me is the folks on it, normally on forums in my experience you would meet random folks who were just anonymous and blank couldn't tell them from Adam but CR's community was so tight-knit and dedicated to it's series. It's less like an internet forum and more like a neighbourhood to me I suppose where many people know each other and know what to expect of them. I suppose you could just say I've gotten familiar with folks here over the years but the small-community of folks makes CR so much more special that other forums with massive anonymous members.

CR has introduced a lot of things to me and helped me open my mind, I used to blatantly condemn fanfiction for one thing but now I'm quite open to the hilarity and occasionally horror of fanfiction at times and I'm more accepting of pairings in places than I was before. Also I suppose I have Wooster to credit for about 25-45% of my music as if it wasn't for an article he posted on an OCRemix of Phoenix Wright music a couple years ago I may never have discovered that site. Other cool things like Ceres and his amazing sprites, even though the game was cancelled, and the full on fan-translation of GK2 going on behind the scenes keeps my faith in the fanbase and my support for CR high.

So plenty of reasons to thank CR I suppose, while I was never really into the CR family tree at all I always thought with the regular folks and friendly welcoming atmosphere as well as all the different things going on it felt like a nice little family atmosphere anyway, with DoMaya as the crazy uncle people humour but keep their distance from.

Made by Chesu+Zombee

You thought you could be safe in your courts, with your laws and attorneys to protect you. In this world only I am law, my word is fact, my power is absolute.

Last edited by Pierre on Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Edit: well back when my local gamecrazy was still up and running id often hang around there(me and several other people knew the guys who worked there and would often hang out) anyways one day when I went there saw a friend playing the game...I wasn't sure what it was but I was bored and over time it became more and more interesting as the day passed. Before I knew it I decided I wanted to try the game myself.

When I finally got the game and played it i couldn't stop it was something I hadn't really had the chance to play before and considering I've always loved mysteries (i still remember once wanting to be a detective as a kid) I got really into it.

well four games later I decided to look to see if anything about an anime was online (since I've always enjoyed the stuff) that's how i stumbled onto court records...yup the anime project is what brought me here...even tried to audition...it was a pretty bad audition if i remember correctly.

I ended up just lurking CR for a month or so (I had never posted on any site before at the time) before and kept passing by the sprite section...you see I've been drawling since a young age and sadly and was interested in trying to sprite...though I was pretty bad back then but with much time, effort, inspiration from my fellow spriters and artists i got better...to be honest i dont think id have gotten as good as i have at spriting or even drawling for that matter if not for being on CR wanting to become as good as some of the other spriters if come to know and respect and even try and compete with. :D

so to end what im saying CR has been like a home on the net to me, I've learned a lot after coming here and got to know plenty of people here...so thanks for the good times...especially the funny ones...usually what was at croutons and possibly the other edgeworth fans expense. xD

Last edited by Cold52 on Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

Haha, no, of course I'm not going anywhere you silly silly man! I simply said that because it'll be 4 more years in 2016, so I could do another "it's been 4 years" post then. Hollywood rules indicate I should have waited an year for the full 5, but I simply felt I wanted to tell you guys this now. Seeing my join date being 4 years in the past really brought all these feelings back, and I tried to show pretty much all of them with the post.

I'm glad I touched some hearts, haha. Pierre, your story taught me I wasn't the only one "schooled" by C-R! I wonder how many of us there are here? We owe this forums so much...

I could go on and on and on, about how I never could foretell what I was getting myself into, the fun, the frustrations, the excitement at an email from a Capcom employee, and the awe at how the community would pull together for me last year.

But I'll save that for another time. Instead... I'll just treat you guys to the email correspondence that started the dynamic duo of terror that became CR. Now, some things were removed from the email. I removed Croik's IM accounts. Not sure if she'd appreciate that being posted, so I didn't. I also excluded a segment where I posted about my previous web experiences/qualifications in fandoms. I was... quite the greenhorn then.

Anyways, enjoy the rare look behind the scenes.

Wooster wrote:

Hey, I really like your site. The front pageespecially is quite reminiscent of the game...

But I was wondering, do you have plans to start a message board up? I mean, outside of the Live JournalCommunity...

-Wooster

Croik wrote:

Hey Wooster,

Glad you like the site :D. I'm not so good with Photoshop and layouts as some people so I figured making it look like the game would make its simplicity forgiveable XD

I don't have any plans for starting a message board. I think someone on the LJ community created one on invisionfree or something, but I'm not sure if it's being kept up... I'll see if I can track her down.

But if you know of any other PW sites or forums, let me know and I'll definately link back!

-Croik

Wooster wrote:

:-p For a "Cheep WebSite" You've got a insain amount of content, I mean, the Bios section is enough to drool over... and most of the content is from the Japanese games... that's more then 20x the amount of content/effort a run of the mill Mario fan would put on his/her site. Plus, a lot of that content is fairly difficult to come by, namely the background images, and the evidence pics. Ripping them from the game is quite the weekend activity.

And actually, while it's clear in some areas that you cut some corners, namely with the amount of tables, it's really, really, really organized well. Actually, it was because of the good organization that I had to stop and re-browse the site to think up a point where simplicity took a stand. Color pallets are nice, and the iconic link at the bottom of the content pages is a very nice touch.

Actually, the only thing I can think of that the site is missing, beyond a message board, is a collection of character sprites / character sprite animations, and maybe some translations to those Manga's. Other then that, You've really covered all four courners of this game series.

I took a look into the non 'PW' directory of your site just now and found the message board... Looks alright... but I can tell right off the bat that it's got way-way-way too many boards. The Global Studios Section could be condenced into two boards, one for X rated content, and one for the rest; and "Wright And Co Law Offices, Criminal Affairs, and Distric Court (Minus the Lobby) Could all be condenced into a second board. Thus, conversating is centralized.

Quite a bit of eye candy though...

Croik wrote:

I'm a little familiar with phpBB (it's similar to Invisionfree, isn't it? I've set up a few of those before without too much trouble). But I'm not very technical when it comes to coding at all ^^;;. I use Frontpage for everything except the most basic html. So yeah, I'm fine going with whatever you're most familiar with.

If I set up a phpBB board, can I still give you full administrative access? Either that or if you want to go ahead and make something, feel free to use the Court Records name/banner/whatever and toss me a link. I've had a lot of people offer to help the site but not really know how, so maybe I can round up some moderators.

I really appreciate your help!

<<Also, out of curiosity, why is the 'Court Records'section in the /pw/ directory, and not the root? Seemslike and odd slot to place it.>>

Actually, it's because I've had croik.com for a few years now. When I started Court Records someone offered to lend me space on a different site, but then I didn't hear from them and in the meantime I just created a subdirectory on my own to get things started and take in people's opinions. But then I got carried away and kept adding stuff, so at this point it's just easier (and cheaper) for me to keep it on my old domain.

If the site and message board get enough attention (enough for me to be able to ask for donations >.>) I might move it to its own domain someday.

Btw, if you have yahoo messenger my name on that is <redacted>, same as on AIM, if you want to chat about a board or whatever else :P

Wooster wrote:

> <<Also, out of curiosity, why is the 'Court Records'> section in the /pw/ directory, and not the root?> Seems> like and odd slot to place it.>>> > Actually, it's because I've had croik.com for a few> years now. When I> started Court Records someone offered to lend me> space on a different site,> but then I didn't hear from them and in the meantime> I just created a> subdirectory on my own to get things started and> take in people's opinions.> But then I got carried away and kept adding stuff,> so at this point it's> just easier (and cheaper) for me to keep it on my> old domain.>

Hmm... I have been looking into purchasing a domainand site for myself lately. Mostly for the ability totest random code in a isolated yet live environment.Maybe in the long term if we find this working out Imight just decide to buy one and we could move tothere... Though, I'm not necessarily interested inbuying a site just yet, considering we don't know howfar this project could or couldn't go, and don't wantto spend money if it'll end up a waste.

> If the site and message board get enough attention> (enough for me to be able> to ask for donations >.>) I might move it to its own> domain someday.>

:-p Words out of my mouth.

> Btw, if you have yahoo messenger my name on that is> <redacted>, same as on AIM,> if you want to chat about a board or whatever else> :P>

wooster456 for yahoosuperwooster for AIM

I used to be on them non-stop but now my time is veryspiratic.

Also, I hope I'm not delving into personal informationor what not... but how old are you? 'Cause regardlessI'm very impressed with the layout you've got. I'mguessing you're in late highschool or early college orsomething...

I'm 19 and currently in my second year at college.

-Wooster

Croik wrote:

Hey Wooster,

I went ahead and did it! I made a cheap board :P. But I did find out that on my account with phpwebhosting, I can add another registered domain. Right now I'm saving money for a convention come spring, but depending on how much I'm able to not spend on that trip, I might go ahead and register a new domain for Court Records. If it's taken off by then maybe I'll push a forum over there as well.

But for now, it's simple and cheap ^^;;. Register and I'll make you an admin:

I haven't put anything up just yet, but I'm gonna set up some general sections tonight. Lemme know if you have any suggestions/ideas!

-Croik

p.s. BTW, you were close. I'm out of college - 23 ^_~

Just keep in mind that CR was a very different monster back then. So some of our expectations and things we were fixing very much no longer exist... or have been fixed to where you can't imagine them being broken.

When I saw this thread at first I thought you were leaving, DeMat. Don't scare me like that!

But... yeah, C-R, you guys are great. I'll be honest, I'm not the most active member of the community here - I think I did one fan comic a long time ago, and that's about it - but I still love all the time I've spent here (all five and a half years - wow that's a while), and all of you (even you, DoMaya). We've had our ups and downs, there's a lot of old faces that are long gone, but we're still here and still decently active (and hopefully we'll pick up a lot with PLvsAA and anything else that comes around.) AA helped convince me to take the plunge and start learning Japanese, and I still look back fondly on GS4, GK, and GK2's releases and all the fun we had diving into them and ripping them to pieces (in a good way). These days I mostly just do what I can to track down and report news (a job made incredibly easier by the wonderful JapaneseGIRL; ありがとうございます！) and help around the forum (even if looking back I was being really overzealous with putting together that "transition FAQ topic"; it was probably pretty redundant. I even broke the golden rule and suggested it be stickied. )

And last year's drive to help Wooster was simply wonderful. If ever there was anything to disprove the notion that forums never do anything worthwhile, that was it.

You're darn good, C-R. Here's to the future.

Hi! I've largely stepped back from C-R due to life stuff. Please contact one of the other staff members for help!

Yeah, never contributed much per say (aside from the funnies and some cheesy fanart in the old days), but it's been quite a ride. First series that got me into forums so I can say it did something I suppose. Met a few cool people, said goodbye to a few, seen some smooth transitions, seen some rocky ones. I know I'm not active like I used to be, but I still find myself checking things out now and then. I'm really hoping once the new Layton vs. Ace Attorney game comes around, we can get ourselves a breath of fresh air around here. Looking back, wow I'm embarrassed as to how I was 4-5 years ago, but we all grow up I suppose.

And I do gotta say, last year's event to help Wooster was really heartwarming. Especially getting even members who haven't been around so long just to help out. Really shows how much of impact has been made. Sounds cheesy, but Wooster, thanks for sticking around with us too like you have.

On April 3, 2016, Court Records Forums experienced a miracle upon that day.

CatMuto wrote:

Pierre wrote:

Man...that looks dull...this actually makes me worried for KH3 (since that team worked on the battle system)

This entire thread is brilliant and so heartwarming. It's so wonderful how this one website was able to entirely influence our lives!

I know I haven't been the best user on this forum, or the smartest, or even the nicest but I've learned a lot from being here. I can proudly say that being here has changed me for the better. Some of you might remember when I first started actively posting here. I was annoying, I was irritable, I was generally all-around moronic. It was so bad that I used to have my own article on Encyclopedia Dramatica written by several people who were definitely frustrated with my actions. All along the way though I've had nothing but people trying to help me even when they didn't realize it. Some people comforted me when I was feeling down or when I was being antagonized, those people also helped me because they saw that I needed change and they adamantly let me know that what I was doing was wrong and though I didn't always listen, they did cause me to evaluate myself more. I've partaken in many debates/flame wars around here. Some serious, others not so serious. I used to have a lot of messed-up and twisted thoughts but I'd very much like to believe I've gotten better for the most part. God, I don't even know where to begin. I've had two temporary bans here and looking back I really deserved them even though I thought I didn't. I've met so many people and learned so much about life on the Internet from here. When I received my first temporary ban I actually passed the time by reluctantly starting a Facebook and now I can't really get enough of it. Later on I then joined The Otaku out of curiosity and there I've met some of my closest friends now. I don't come here as often, but maybe that's for the better. I still say groanworthy things sometimes over here, but I'm doing it all to learn more. Evolutionary scientists say humans evolved the art of arguing to practice social dominance, not to be able to weigh in on issues and learn more about both sides, but that's how I've gotten my learning experiences. I've "lost" many scuffles and debates over here usually with both sides seething in anger but in the end I've learned a lot about things I wouldn't have bothered with before and for this I thank you. I realize that many people believe I've toned down considerably but that I'm still annoying to them so they choose to just ignore me and while that doesn't exactly make me glad, I'm okay with that.

This entire thread is brilliant and so heartwarming. It's so wonderful how this one website was able to entirely influence our lives!

I know I haven't been the best user on this forum, or the smartest, or even the nicest but I've learned a lot from being here. I can proudly say that being here has changed me for the better. Some of you might remember when I first started actively posting here. I was annoying, I was irritable, I was generally all-around moronic. It was so bad that I used to have my own article on Encyclopedia Dramatica written by several people who were definitely frustrated with my actions. All along the way though I've had nothing but people trying to help me even when they didn't realize it. Some people comforted me when I was feeling down or when I was being antagonized, those people also helped me because they saw that I needed change and they adamantly let me know that what I was doing was wrong and though I didn't always listen, they did cause me to evaluate myself more. I've partaken in many debates/flame wars around here. Some serious, others not so serious. I used to have a lot of messed-up and twisted thoughts but I'd very much like to believe I've gotten better for the most part. God, I don't even know where to begin. I've had two temporary bans here and looking back I really deserved them even though I thought I didn't. I've met so many people and learned so much about life on the Internet from here. When I received my first temporary ban I actually passed the time by reluctantly starting a Facebook and now I can't really get enough of it. Later on I then joined The Otaku out of curiosity and there I've met some of my closest friends now. I don't come here as often, but maybe that's for the better. I still say groanworthy things sometimes over here, but I'm doing it all to learn more. Evolutionary scientists say humans evolved the art of arguing to practice social dominance, not to be able to weigh in on issues and learn more about both sides, but that's how I've gotten my learning experiences. I've "lost" many scuffles and debates over here usually with both sides seething in anger but in the end I've learned a lot about things I wouldn't have bothered with before and for this I thank you. I realize that many people believe I've toned down considerably but that I'm still annoying to them so they choose to just ignore me and while that doesn't exactly make me glad, I'm okay with that.

If you're still not entirely sure about it, let me confirm it: you've changed a lot, Yaragorm. For the better. You've evolved from a, how to say it, complete "newfag", into a valuable member one can chat and debate with. Congratulations on that, you deserve it.

Yara, I can say that I can tolerate you and I mean that in a good way. I admit, I got so frustrated with you so much when you'd come with your complaints about how things were and though we'd give you advice, you'd continue to wallow around in your situation with no change and complain more. Glad to see you've grown up a bit since then. Suppose we all are.

On April 3, 2016, Court Records Forums experienced a miracle upon that day.

CatMuto wrote:

Pierre wrote:

Man...that looks dull...this actually makes me worried for KH3 (since that team worked on the battle system)

Yeah Yara I remember you starting out you've improved a lot since then.

Though the No Fur = Not Furry thing in your sig could go :P

Huh. Didn't even notice that was still there. Well I've changed it now so no biggie.

DeMatador wrote:

If you're still not entirely sure about it, let me confirm it: you've changed a lot, Yaragorm. For the better. You've evolved from a, how to say it, complete "newfag", into a valuable member one can chat and debate with. Congratulations on that, you deserve it.

dullahan1 wrote:

Yara, I can say that I can tolerate you and I mean that in a good way. I admit, I got so frustrated with you so much when you'd come with your complaints about how things were and though we'd give you advice, you'd continue to wallow around in your situation with no change and complain more. Glad to see you've grown up a bit since then. Suppose we all are.

Thank you guys so much. It really means a lot to me to hear you guys saying that... Oh my, I think I've teared up again...

And I didn't even get a bloody look in. Well, I'm just that guy who made smilies that weren't quite as good as Happiness Punch's I guess.

Only kidding. I've had a whirl here on and off for the last 5 years. How I've never been banned I'll never know, but it's a testiment to the community here that CR has survived through several major forum-wide flame wars and bust ups that would have sent other forums to the grave.

Thanks for remembering me, DeMatador. I'm honored that you like my work, though there's obviously a lot about it that I would improve now if I could do it over.

If you're curious, I'm a university junior now, studying linguistics. I still like to draw comics and create pixel art, and although I haven't played in a very long time, I still do have a fond spot in my heart for the AA series. I was a member of CR during an odd turning point in my life, and met several people who remain good friends to this day. In fact, as a result of being on CR, I reconnected with a friend in Iowa, met up with her when she visited Florida, and eventually made the decision to return to The Land of Corn and Plague and attend university at the urging of that friend and her family.

I may not have always meshed with the climate here, but I don't regret joining CR. I hope that it remains a good community for you.

Got quite sad reading this thread. Really did. I'm not the most active CR member. When I joined about 7 years ago, I was a little more active but that's because I was 12 or something and just had all the free time to fan girl constantly. I remember AA being the first game I got for my DS (besides the bundle Nintendogs), and I wish I could go back in time and play them all again.

I've been getting really sad recently about growing up and I keep wishing I was a child again, this thread rubs it in because it reminds me of when I first started discovering good games when I was young. Sob.

Oh now this is uncomfortable. I can feel my heart warming and it's rather strange.

And what happened, then? Well, on Court Records they say - that Looby's small heart grew three sizes that day. And then the true meaning of the forums came through, and Looby found the strength of ten Loobys, plus two!

It was either that or a joke about gas. =/

On April 3, 2016, Court Records Forums experienced a miracle upon that day.

CatMuto wrote:

Pierre wrote:

Man...that looks dull...this actually makes me worried for KH3 (since that team worked on the battle system)

Woah, can't believe I missed this earlier. The potential for manly tear shedding's off the scale.

While I haven't had the same experiences with CR as you, DeMatador, I've always felt the same way with regards to the power of the internet. As sad as it may seem, I wouldn't be anywhere near the way I was now if it wasn't for all the message boards I've frequented since I was, like, 12 (for reference: I am turning 20 in a month. Yikes.). Verily we are poster-children shining examples of kids growing up in the 21st century...

EDIT: It's almost been 5 years since I joined CR? Jumping Christ on a stick, "time flies" doesn't even come close.

EDIT EDIT:

samboo1 wrote:

I've been getting really sad recently about growing up and I keep wishing I was a child again, this thread rubs it in because it reminds me of when I first started discovering good games when I was young. Sob.

Same here. :<

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Oh, Ace Attorney's definitely had a huge impact on my life. There's just a certain je ne sais quoi about the series you can't find anywhere else. Sincerely hope there are many more games to come!

Awwww sheet. I missed my own 5 year anniversary party. 5 years and 4 days ago I joined CR. I was 16. I was just about to go into 6th form. I had no job.

I'm now 21. I've been out of school for 3 years. I have been working for 3.5 years. I have in that time gone from Saturday Christmas Temp to a Team Manager, highly regarded in my area of stores.

Bizarre the things that change, and how quickly they change. But CR still goes on. I'm a different person to who I was, but the people I met on the forum have grown with me and are still the people I share things with.Time has flown in real life. Stupidly fast. 5 years. Yikes.

Wow, this thread kinda makes me remember how I joined CR and how many joyful hours I speant reading, writing and talking with others.Now I am like a randomly appearing guy who here and there reads some posts of some people returning and it slowly starts too feel warm and fuzzy again in here.I really hope, that GS5 will really appear. I even might consider buying a 3DS, just to get into this forum again and to participate into the upcoming discussions.Seeing this forum getting like really livley again would made my, I dunno...But right now it seems in hibernation.

I had a goofy sense of humor where I liked picking on people and being silly and hard to pin, that still remains with me (in a more kind-spirited sense) but I'd like to imagine I wasn't too antagonistic since everything I did was with a coy smile. I probably was, though, unaware of how people outside my friends took it, since I did hang around some dudes with a vicious bite.

I stiiiill don't look back on anything I did in CR very fondly. Granted, I think I was popular for some reason and a lot of people took it to be jokes, but I've outgrown it all. Too many instances of me getting like, "wow you're so stupid guy i'm picking on woow whoa!" and that's really boring. In general, I look back on everything I did and think it pretty amateur and transparent.

Ah, getting older...

If you come across an older post of mine, said with insensitivity or without empathy, I am sorry.

I had a goofy sense of humor where I liked picking on people and being silly and hard to pin, that still remains with me (in a more kind-spirited sense) but I'd like to imagine I wasn't too antagonistic since everything I did was with a coy smile. I probably was, though, unaware of how people outside my friends took it, since I did hang around some dudes with a vicious bite.

I stiiiill don't look back on anything I did in CR very fondly. Granted, I think I was popular for some reason and a lot of people took it to be jokes, but I've outgrown it all. Too many instances of me getting like, "wow you're so stupid guy i'm picking on woow whoa!" and that's really boring. In general, I look back on everything I did and think it pretty amateur and transparent.

Ah, getting older...

I wasn't expecting you here at all, HH. It's been a while :')

I never considered you a troll; what I do remember is you having personally trolled me once or twice, years and years ago. I don't even really recall if it was trolling or not, I just know I considered it trolling at the time, and that stuck around; but as I said, that was years ago, and I wasn't precisely mature back then... Not sure if I can call myself a mature person right now either, but hell, if anything, I've grown since then.

In any case, I did notice everything you did was with a coy smile, but at the time I didn't appreciate it as I do know. You definitely left that kind of mark on me, to the point where I think of you as a kind of CR urban myth, haha. But it was never a grave enough mark for me to "hate" you or anything close to that... I guess I was just mad that I couldn't reply with a post snappier than your original one :P

Thanks for the memories, I guess :)

Mr. Bear Jew wrote:

Gerkuman wrote:

Oh we're so obviously not going to die this year. At least, hopefully. (At least 1 forum member was tragically taken from us last year afterall :( )

I feel bad for not knowing who, even if I was mostly inactive last year. Who did we lose?

I don't recall her username right now, but I do remember her name being Katherine (did we use to call her Kat?) And I don't really know if she had an account here... but I do know she was very active in the backup forums after the Great CR Server Meltdown of 2011... I miss those times, I dunno why, but there was something... special about that place. Those weeks made me see CR much more as a family than as a community, I think... Maybe it was the donation drive for Wooster :)

Oh we're so obviously not going to die this year. At least, hopefully. (At least 1 forum member was tragically taken from us last year afterall :( )

I feel bad for not knowing who, even if I was mostly inactive last year. Who did we lose?

I don't recall her username right now, but I do remember her name being Katherine (did we use to call her Kat?) And I don't really know if she had an account here... but I do know she was very active in the backup forums after the Great CR Server Meltdown of 2011... I miss those times, I dunno why, but there was something... special about that place. Those weeks made me see CR much more as a family than as a community, I think... Maybe it was the donation drive for Wooster :)

I was just popping in today to see if there was any April fools shenanigans going on for CR today, and instead I found this heartwarming thread.

I just wanted to pop in and say that CR really did help me in my later formative years (15 when I joined, yeesh!). I was just ADDICTED to the Ace Attorney series, and I don't regret all the time I spent discussing it. While I haven't been on in quite a while (almost all the old members I remember have faded away ), I definitely have fond memories of this site. A lot of them around posting a little too often for my own good.

I might come back occasionally, especially when/if GS5 and PL vs AA get released. I really hope this site still continues to have a vibrant and active community, even if we can't have the old days back!

It's funny... I've checked this forum many, many times in the last year or so, and never once did I think to open this thread. I don't know why, I just saw it was stickied and figured it was something important relating to only this section, something obvious about rules and regulations that I, as a Mod and upright poster, wouldn't need to look at. Boy was I wrong. I don't even know what made me look at this thread; the last post is from April, so it's not like I really had any reason to, but it's as if something made me. Then I read the thread, and it made me realize what a mistake that was. So I'll contribute just as I probably would have had I seen it sooner. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors, I'm writing this at 1 AM so there's bound to be a few.

First, some exposition. I had been writing for a now-long-defunct anime e-zine called Denkyu.com since 2003-ish; I was the unofficial "anime tie-in game reviewer", as I liked to consider myself. I made it my mission to buy and play tie-in or anime-like games, write a two-to-three page review, then submit it for publishing at the end of the month.

While this was working out well, around mid-December 2005 I found myself running out of games and/or anime to review. coincidently, a certain someone had given me a copy of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for Christmas. I thought nothing of it at the time - I'd hardly heard of it, and it looked like any other cheap, one-off DS game that paints anime-like covers to make it look enticing to the general public.

As I played the game, I obviously fell in love with it. I wrote a nice review, and after I played through it a few times through, I started introducing it to my friends, the first of which was my best friend from high school, ButzPuff; ironically, the very person that had bought me the game for Christmas. He also enjoyed it quite a bit, and from there we were both instant fans who tried to get everyone we knew to play it. We would get into arguments over the characters, yell "Objection!" at each other during otherwise unrelated conversations, etc. We even put our friends into the roles of the game (I was Phoenix, BP was Larry, etc). It was around then we found Court Records, and learned of the existence of two more games. That was all well an good but unfortunately, the only outlet we had on the internet for fan conversations on the game at the time was GameFAQs, which of course was (and still is somewhat) something of a cesspool of rabid fanboys and trolls. Then, about two months later, it happened.

Suddenly, a Court Records Forums appeared! I told BP about it and was going to join, but I was worried that GameFAQs crowd was simply going to migrate there, so I held off at first; he bit the bullet and joined right away. After two days of watching, I did the same. It began with this awkward post back on March 11th, 2006; Over seven years ago, with the very same avatar and signature I sport today. Seems like it was just yesterday, displaying my own ego and linking to my old review to "prove" my fanboyness, and fretting over not using an AA name for my username because it would make me stand out. But my fears were soon put to rest. The forumers I was originally nervous about ended up being some really awesome people. Croik, while coming off a bit eccentric at the time (and mind you, this was pre-potatomania), was very nice and made me feel welcome, as did many other people.

Over the next year, I came to really like the forums, much more than I thought I would; I would come to butt heads with a great many people, and get involved in nearly every conversation I could. It lead to me being the second-most active poster on the forums back then. I'm sure I probably inflated that number with useless posts, but of course I was but a noob back then; not every post was a long-winded masterpiece of the written word. Still, I enjoyed it all. While I didn't RP and didn't make any art, the forums became like a second home to me; CR was my homepage, and as the series progressed, so did my obsession with this place.

Some time passed, and it was time for the Forums to change. I don't remember my exact stance at the time, but as I switch over it saddened me that a good portion of what I had come to see as my family-in-arms was suddenly leaving. Not everyone had liked the idea that we were suddenly going back to square one in terms of post count and whatnot, so they either stayed dedicated to the old forums until they were locked down, or just left altogether. And while that was bad, I stayed on because I knew there were still good people here. So on Tuesday February 27th, 2007, I made the jump, becoming the 21st person to join the new forum.

I was almost as active at that point as I had been on the old forums, and for a while, it was just as it always was. Then it happened; On August 15th of that year, Croik sent me a PM asking if I wanted to be a Mod. To say I flipped out would be putting it mildly (in real life that is, I wasn't about to make an ass of myself on the forums).I said yes, and after some deliberation among the Mods and Admins, suddenly I was one of them. It seems silly, but I still feel that excitement when I think back to it. I still find it hard to express in words alone.

But soon enough, real life caught up with me. My step-father passed away, I went to college for a couple of years, got my first job (which I still have), and I found myself with little time for the forums as a result. While I tried to keep up, I just slowly lost time to the point that I stopped coming cold turkey. And sadly when I did try to come back, I came face to face with the great forum blackout of 2011. But as soon as the forums came back, and AA5 news began leaking, I was back with a vengeance.

So that's my story. But it isn't how I got here that's important, it's what keeps me here that matters, and that's you guys. I look at this place not just as a hub where Ace Attorney/Gyakuten Saiban fans crawl out of the shadows to discuss things on, but as a civilized, friendly place where I'm proud to help keep the peace and promote good will. With that, we come to the end of my ridiculously long-winded rant. And with my passionate heart burning red, I'd like to say; Thank you. Thank you Croik, Wooster, Bolt, DeMat, Gerk, LoG, WrestleMania, Pierre, Bad Player (the other BP), Ceres, DoMaya, Adrian in black, and many, many more that I can't remember off the top of my head. Even if you're still here or not, thank you all for seven-and-a-half wonderful years of awesomeness. Thank you, Court-Records!

Y'know Orca, this'll probably sound silly, but you and Butz partly inspired me to want to join in the first place. Just seeing how you two got along so well and seeing how friendly everyone was back in the day really convinced me into wanting to join my first forum.

It's just a shame that I was still a bit shy until we moved to where we are now, but I do have to appreciate how fun and friendly you guys made the forums seem.

On April 3, 2016, Court Records Forums experienced a miracle upon that day.

CatMuto wrote:

Pierre wrote:

Man...that looks dull...this actually makes me worried for KH3 (since that team worked on the battle system)

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